Cosmetic container



Filed Nov. 12, 1957 FIGA.

FIG].

United States Patent COSMETIC CONTAINER Sabatino De Santis, Waterbury, Conn., assignor to The This invention relates to cosmetic stick holders, and particularly those of the type conventionally employed for lipsticks, and has for one of its objects the provision of a device of this kind which can be easily refilled when the stick originally provided with the holder is depleted or when it is desired to change from one stick to another.

It is an object of the invention to provide a refill cup which will removably fit into the carrier cup and will be firmly and securely held in place therein, yet easily released when it is desired to insert another refill cup.

It is an object of the invention to provide a refill arrangement of simple and inexpensive construction; one which will not add to the weight or bulk of the holder and which will not get out of order or be difficult to use.

With these and other objects to be hereinafter set forth in view, I have devised the arrangement of parts to be described and more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein an illustrative embodiment of the invention is disclosed,

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of the rotative sleeve employed in the so-called swive type lipstick, showing a refill cup fitted in place in the carrier cup;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the refill cup, showing a portion of the cosmetic stick carried by it;

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view of the carrier cup;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical sectional View through the carrier cup and the refill cup fitted into it;

Fig. 5 is another elevational view of the rotative sleeve at a different angle to that of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional view, taken substantially on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5, looking'in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 7 is a sectional view, taken substantially on the line 7-7 of Fig. 6, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 8 is a detail view, showing how the refill cup is capable of easy removal from within the carrier cup when the carrier cup is located at the limit of its advancing movement, and

Fig. 9 is a side elevational view of the carrier cup with another form of locking tongue.

In the drawing, 1 indicates a rotative sleeve employed in known types of lipstick holders, with the exception of the fact that this type of sleeve is rotated by the integral ring or collar 2 located near the forward end 5 of the sleeve as distinguished from the rotative finger-pieces in most lipsticks which are conventionally located at the rear end of the holder. The sleeve 1, in the known type of lipstick holder is usually located between an outer shell and an inner sleeve, both the inner sleeve md that shown at 1 being slotted to receive the radial pin 7 of the carrier cup 6 in a manner to cause propulsion or retraction of the carrier cup 6 according to the direction of rotation of the ring or collar 2. This construction is widely known and used in this art and is therefore not illustrated in detail herein. Both the inner and outer sleeves are omitted from the drawing to simplify illustration.

The slot 3, provided in the sleeve 1 is one of the slots f r 1C6 4 into which the pin 7 is moved at the limit of the retracting movement of the carrier cup 6 to thereby retain the carrier cup in its fully retracted position.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 3, the carrier cup 6 is formed with an inverted U-shaped slot 8 resulting in the production of a spring tongue 9 provided with an inwardly-directed detent 16 for engagement with a part of the refill cup 10 that is inserted or nested within the carrier cup 6 as shown in Fig. 4.

The refill cup 10 is provided with an annular shoulder 13 which acts as a stop to limit the extent of its insertion into the carrier cup 6. The lower, or base portion, of the refill cup 10 is slightly smaller in diameter than the upper portion of the refill cup and this smaller-diameter portionfits snugly within the carrier cup. Provided in the refill cup 10 near its base or closed end is an annular groove 12 with which the projection on the spring tongue 9 resiliently engages when the refill cup 10 is inserted within the carrier cup 6, substantially as shown in Fig. 4, thus locking the two cups 6 and 10 together in their nested relation.

The fit of the carrier cup within the sleeve 1 is such that the detent 16 of the tongue 9 is constantly maintained in the groove 12 as long as the carrier cup is slightly retracted, but means is provided by which the tongue 9 can be slightly sprung outwardly, as shown in Fig. 8, when the carrier cup and its contained refill cup are at the fully advanced position. For this purpose, the wall of the sleeve 1 is distorted outwardly near the forward end of the sleeve, as shown at 15, to form a recess 15 which permits outward springing movement of the locking tongue 9, substantially as shown in Fig. 8, when it is desired to remove the refill cup 10 and replace it with another. If an inner sleeve is employed within sleeve 1 a corresponding recess or an aperture can be provided to expose the recess 15.

When it is desired to insert a refill cup, such as shown in Fig. 2 into the carrier cup 6, the carrier cup 6 is advanced, by rotative movement of the ring or collar 2, until the spring tongue 9 registers with the recess 15. Recess 15 is so positioned that it will register with the tongue 9 when the cups reach their fully advanced position. The refill cup 10 is now forced down into the carrier cup 6 and spring tongue 9 will spring outwardly into the recess 15 to the extent required to permit passage of the bottom end portion of the refill cup, whereupon the spring tongue 9 will have its projection or detent 16 engage With the groove 12, thus coupling the two cups 6 and 10 together in nested relation. As the carrier cup is retracted, and as long as it remains retracted, separation of the two cups cannot occur since the spring tongue 9 will be restrained from outward flexing movement by its contact with the inner wall surfaces of the sleeve 1 or within any inner sleeve generally employed inside of the sleeve 1. Thus, separation of thetwo cups can only take place when the two nested cups are in the fully advanced position, and such separation cannot be an inadvertent one since the engagement of the tongue 9 with the groove 12 constitutes a positive lock between the two cups and they can only be separated by the exertion of manual pull exerted on the exposed upper end portion of the refill cup.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 3, the cup 6 is provided with a free end spring tongue 9. In Fig. 9 is shown another form of locking tongue 19 which is provided between the parallel slots 17 and 18, the tongue in this instance being integrally joined at both ends to the body of the cup and having an inwardly extended detent 20 for engagement with the groove 12.

Having described a single embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that the same is not to be restricted thereto, but is broad enough to cover all structures coming within the scope of the annexed claims.

What I claim is:

l. A cosmetic stick holder comprising a sleeve, a carrier cup located in the sleeve and mounted for advancing and retracting movement within the same, said cup being provided with a spring tongue formed out of its side wall and located rearwardly of its forward end, which tongue has an inwardly-directed detent portion, a refill cup its rear end portion inserted within the carrier cup and having a finger-engaging forward portion projecting out of the carrier cup, said refill cup being provided adjacent to its rear end with an annular groove for engagement by the detent of the spring tongue to thereby hold the two cups together in nested relationship, the sleeve having a recess formed in its side wall adjacent to but rearwardly of the forward end of the sleeve, which recess is so positioned that it will register with the spring tongue when the nested cups reach their advanced position, thereby permitting the spring tongue to be outwardly flexed into said recess by forward manual pull on the refill cup to withdraw said refill cup from the carrier cup.

2. A cosmetic stick holder comprising, a sleeve, a carrier cup located in the sleeve and mounted for advancing and retracting movement relatively to the same, said carrier cup being provided with a spring tongue formed out of its side wall and located inwardly of its forward end, said tongue having an inwardly-directed detent, the tongue, with the exception of the detent, being located within the plane of the side wall of the cup, a refill cup having its rear portion inserted within the carrier cup, said refill cup having an annular shoulder limiting the extent of its insertion in the carrier cup, said refill cup being provided adjacent to its rear end with an annular groove engaged by the detent to thereby hold the two cups together in nested relationship, the refill cup having a forward portion projecting beyond the forward limits of the carrier cup, said forward portion being of a size to permit it to be finger-engaged to remove the refill cup out of the carrier cup, the sleeve being provided with a recess in its side wall adjacent to, but rearwardly of, the forward end of the sleeve, said recess being positioned to register with the spring tongue when the nested cups reach their advanced position but before the said tongue reaches the forward end of the sleeve, thereby causing the spring tongue to be outwardly flexed into the recess to facilitate the removal of the refill cup when manual pull is exerted on the refill cup while its projecting portion is gripped by the fingers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 206,791 Hopfen Aug. 6, 1878 FOREIGN PATENTS 671,388 Great Britain May 7, 1952 

